Ig® Nobel Limericks: Light Snacks, Dark Coffee, Pop-Ups

The following is an article from The Annals of Improbable Research, now in all-pdf form. Get a subscription now for only $25 a year!

(Image credit: Leendertz)

Ig Nobel Achievements distilled into limerick form
by Martin Eiger, Improbable Research Limerick Laureate

The Ig Nobel Prizes honor achievements that first make people laugh, then make them think. For details of all the Ig Nobel Prize–winning achievements, see each year’s special Ig Nobel issue of the magazine, and also see the list of winners.

1995 Ig Nobel Nutrition Prize
The prize was awarded to John Martinez of J. Martinez & Company in Atlanta, Georgia, for Luak Coffee, the world’s most expensive coffee, which is made from coffee beans ingested and excreted by the luak (aka the palm civet), a bobcat-like animal native to Indonesia.

First, get your luak to eat
Some coffee beans. Let it excrete.
Extract the beans. Brew.
And what will ensue?
An expensive and flavorful treat!

2000 Ig Nobel Nutrition Prize
The prize was awarded to Jasmuheen of Australia, first lady of Breatharianism, for her book Living on Light, which explains that although some people do eat food, they don’t ever really need to.

To chew and to gnaw and to bite,
To swallow, digest as we might—
Though some people feed,
There’s really no need,
As long as we breathe and there’s light.

1992 Ig Nobel Art Prize
The prize was awarded jointly to Jim Knowlton, modern Renaissance man, for his classic anatomy poster “Penises of the Animal Kingdom,” and to the U.S. National Endowment for the Arts for encouraging Mr. Knowlton to extend his work in the form of a pop-up book.


A partial view of Jim Knowlton’s poster.

Get the poster. Those paying attention’ll
Expand in new ways comprehensional.
Now go get the book,
And take a close look.
You’ll notice that it’s three-dimensional.

_____________________

The article above is from the January-February 2015 issue of the Annals of Improbable Research. You can download or purchase back issues of the magazine, or subscribe to receive future issues. Or get a subscription for someone as a gift!

Visit their website for more research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.


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